Bilingual (French/English names)

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-15-2006
Bilingual (French/English names)
7
Fri, 04-04-2008 - 10:47am

It's hard to find a name... even more when it has to be a bilingual name. I'm Francophone and DH is Anglophone. We live in a French city in the province of Quebec. We raise our children in both languages (one parent one language). We are looking for names that sound as good in French as they do in English. I don't like English names pronounced with a French accent or the opposite. Also, we like classic names, that aren't too popular, without being weird.


So far, the names I came up with for a boy are:


William (ranked in the first 3 for the past 10 years in Qc)
Thomas (ranked 5th in Qc)
Gabriel (unisex :( and ranked 7th in Qc)
Alexandre (ranked 14th in Qc)
Jacob (ranked 17th in Qc)
Vincent (ranked 20th in Qc, not so much in English)
Simon (my DD is in love with Simon at daycare and it's really cute the way she says his name) (ranked 26th in Qc)
Adam (ranked 29th in Qc)
Daniel (unisex in French, ranked 61st in Qc)
James (too English, not bilingual enough, ranked 69th in Qc)

For a girl



 
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-29-2003
Fri, 04-04-2008 - 12:04pm

I like these best
William
Thomas
Gabriel - I don't see this as unisex at all, Gabrielle is the female version for me.
Adam

Sarah
Elizabeth

What about Amelia or Amelie? Camille? Josephine?

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-01-2003
Fri, 04-04-2008 - 12:29pm

I agree that most of your boys names are very popular, but your daughter's name Catherine is certainly very common


a French name for a girl I've always liked is Gisele


no one here uses Noemi - so Naomi will not be confused for Noemie - it's the other way around - I would not put an e on the end of Naomi


all of the traditional boys names are super popular


Zachary or Gregory might work here - or Andrew - Christopher would be a good sibling to Catherine


good luck

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-20-2006
Fri, 04-04-2008 - 1:06pm

I posed a similar question here a few months ago.

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-15-2006
Fri, 04-04-2008 - 1:06pm
Actually, in French, Gabriel and Gabrielle are pronounced the exact same way. And I do live in a French city...




 
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-08-2008
Fri, 04-04-2008 - 1:44pm

For boys:

Eric
Lucas
Olivier
Tristan
Elliot
Paul
Samuel

For girls:

Caroline
Corrine
Helene
Louise
Renee
Clara
Nadia
Noelle

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2003
Fri, 04-04-2008 - 3:06pm

I've always liked French names.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-11-2008
Fri, 04-11-2008 - 4:38pm

My sister lives in QC and named her 2 daughters:
Jonette Aurelie and Josephine Amelie
(she likes that they are Johnny & Joey for english purposes)

Her son's name is a family name but I'll say it anyway:
Lucien Alexandre
(Luke for english speakers)